The sci-fi dogfightera spinoff of EVE Onlineis one of the first AAA titles developed specifically for the virtual reality device.

"We strongly believe the best VR experiences are going to be the ones built from the ground up for VR, and we've kept that in mind whilst developing Valkyrie," CCP programmer Robert Clarke said in a statement. "We wanted people to really feel like they were thereto sense the vastness of space, feel the confined area of the cockpit and get that adrenaline rush as you see an exploding fighter whizz past your head."

Used as a demonstration during this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Valkyrie will launch sometime later this year; a specific date has not yet been revealed.

PCMag's Will Greenwald tested the title on the 1080p Oculus Rift Crystal Cove prototype at CES, where he flew through asteroid fields and shot at enemy ships.

"The experience was remarkably immersive, and the ability to look up and lock missiles while I took an evasive course added a new level of strategy," Greenwald said in January about EVE: Valkyrie.

What senior programmer Sigurður Guðmundsson called a "passion project," the game was developed from an idea into a full-fledged CCP project in a very short time. "It's hard to believe how far we've come in a year," Guðmundsson said.

Valkyrie joins DUST 514 as the second spinoff of the main EVE Online universe, which will be commemorated in April via an outdoor monument engraved with the character names of active, paying players. The structure will be unveiled April 30a day before Fanfest 2014 in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Stephanie began as a PCMag reporter in May 2012. She moved to New York City from Frederick, Md., where she worked for four years as a multimedia reporter at the second-largest daily newspaper in Maryland. She interned at Baltimore magazine and graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (in the town of Indiana, in the state of Pennsylvania) with a degree in journalism and mass communications.
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